{"id":397499,"date":"2024-05-27T01:48:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T01:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=397499"},"modified":"2024-05-27T03:07:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T03:07:09","slug":"ive-explained-billy-bites-back-at-fifita-grilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=397499","title":{"rendered":"'I've explained': Billy bites back at Fifita grilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland<\/a> coach Billy Slater<\/a> has explained his decision to axe million-dollar backrower David Fifita<\/a> from the State of Origin<\/a> team.<\/p>\n

\ufeffFifita was the most notable omission from the line-up announced on Monday morning, which also included Selwyn Cobbo on the bench<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since making his Maroons debut in 2019 Fifita has played eight games for his state, although bizarrely has jumped in and out of the team from series to series.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Billy's ominous clue about role of benched star\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

PAUL GALLEN:<\/strong> The Blues debutant who 'almost played himself out' of selection\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'It's a nightmare': Golf star's cause of death revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

He played in 2019, 2021, and 2023, but missed all of the 2020 and 2022 series.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAnd despite being in decent form for the Titans – who stunned the Broncos with a win on Saturday night – the barnstorming backrower has been left out of Slater's 2024 team.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

"\ufeffDave created a really high standard for his footy last year," Slater said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe just hasn't quite got to that standard this year.<\/p>\n

"I spoke to Dave last night. He has taken the \ufeffdisappointing news like a true Queenslander, he wishes the best for the footy team.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe further reiterated that with a text message after that.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"I've got no doubt \ufeffDave will get back to the footy he played last year and I'm sure he will wear a Maroons jersey in the future again."<\/p>\n

Slater was quizzed again on his axing of Fifita, and the coach wasn't keen to expand any further.<\/p>\n

"I've explained pretty thoroughly, I believe," he said.\ufeff<\/p>\n

In Fifita's place Slater has recalled Dragons forward Jaydn Su'A to the left edge, while Jeremiah Nanai will be the other starting backrower.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly there is no backrower on the bench, with Moeaki Fotuaika and J'Maine Hopgood the reserve forwards named – who both play in the middle for their clubs.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Slater said he expects any backrower to be able to play the full 80 minutes of a game.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland coach Billy Slater has explained his decision to axe million-dollar backrower David Fifita from the State of Origin team. \ufeffFifita was the most notable […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":391464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=397499"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":397501,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397499\/revisions\/397501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/391464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=397499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=397499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=397499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}